Sexual Orientation Research Paper

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Sexual orientation, what is it? Sexual orientation refers to a person’s emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to individuals of a specific gender (Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). There are three main types of sexual orientation, heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual sexual orientation. Heterosexual means that one is attracted to the opposite sex(Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). Homosexual is when one is attracted to the same sex(Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). Bisexual (the prefix bi meaning two) is when a person is attracted to both genders(Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). Sexual orientation gives people a sense of identity and a person’s orientation may not always be evident in their outward appearance or behavior( Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). For example for fear of being judged a homosexual may hide their attraction to the same sex and live their life as a heterosexual person. Majority of the time a person’s sexual preference becomes evident in adolescent, teenage, years(Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). Most scientists agree that one’s sexual orientation is a result of environmental, hormonal, and biological factors( Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS).Most scientists bekieve that sexual orientation is not by choice and cannot be changed( Sexual Orientation Melinda Ratini DO MS). Most people go through a phase called “coming out.” Coming out is a process of accepting and being open about being homosexual or bisexual( Sexual Orientation: Theories about Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexuality David S. Reitman, MD, MBA). Teenagers who are homosexual are at a greater risk for substance abuse, drugs, depression, suicide, and sexually transmitted disease(STD) than their heterosexual peers. These adolescents turn to drugs and alcohol and become depressed and suicidal because of the judgement they go through for who they are attracted to. In the 1950s a survey was done on twenty year old individuals. …show more content…
28 percent of young men and 17 percent of young women said they had had a homosexual experience but only 10 percent said they were primarily homosexual( Sexual Orientation: Theories about Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexuality David S. Reitman, MD, MBA). There are no biological or psychological factors that determine why some people are attracted to the same sex. Freud’s theory says that one can have homosexual development in males due to a family unit in which the adolescent has a strong relationship with his mother and a conflicted and hostile relationship with his father( Sexual Orientation: Theories about Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexuality David S. Reitman, MD, MBA). Basically what this means is that Freud thinks that for a male to be gay (homosexual) that he most likely will have a broken relationship with his father and a very close relationship with his mother. Men who have older brothers are more likely to be homosexual due to the mother’s immune system. Some biologists believe that a mother’s immune system could be defensive to male fetuses. After every son born the chance of the next son being homosexual increases. Researchers think that after every male fetus the mother’s antibodies become stronger and keep the fetus’s brain from developing in normal male patterns(Exploring Psychology Ninth Edition David G. Myers). This effect is called the older-brother or fraternal birth-order effect(Exploring Psychology Ninth Edition David G. Myers). This effect only applies to biological brothers, not adopted brothers. There are biological theories that try to link sexuality with markers on the x chromosome and that maternal hormones can affect sexual orientation when a fetus is in utero (Sexual Orientation: Theories about Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexuality David S. Reitman, MD, MBA). Another theory is that the brain of a heterosexual individual is different than the brain of a homosexual individual (Sexual Orientation: Theories about Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexuality David S. Reitman, MD, MBA). Simon LeVay studied sections of the hypothalamus taken from dead homosexual and heterosexual people. (This test was done blindly, he did not know which person was straight and which was gay due to him wanting to avoid a bias because he himself was a homosexual). (Exploring Psychology Ninth Edition David G. Myers). The hypothalamus is a part of the brain that is linked to emotion. After close observation LeVay looked at the patient charts and made the discovery that the cell cluster was larger in heterosexual meant that homosexual

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